TEENAGE Fremantle forward Jye Amiss never gave up on getting another chance this season, no matter how unlikely it looked when he was moved to the inactive list in May after a serious kidney injury.
And when he did earn his opportunity, he never let his belief and focus be rattled by an early miss in Saturday night's elimination final that had the chance to shake a young forward in just his second game.
Amiss was one of the young Dockers who played key roles in the team's incredible comeback against the Western Bulldogs at Optus Stadium, standing up in clutch moments to kick two important goals.
The 19-year-old said the performance was reward for effort after keeping faith that he would return from a kidney laceration that required surgery and threatened to end his debut season.
"To get out there was amazing. People had pretty much ruled me out for the year, but I was able to do my rehab, get through that really well, and get back to playing WAFL," Amiss told AFL.com.au.
"It was huge reward, and it makes you feel like you're never out of it, even if it is a long-term injury.
"My first mindset was to get the rehab right and do that to the best of my ability to get my body right.
"If you put your hardest into your rehab and get around your teammates, you never know what's going to happen, and obviously I got back playing."
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Amiss played three games with Peel Thunder in the WAFL before earning the AFL call-up last week, admitting he was "a little bit surprised" when coach Justin Longmuir delivered the news.
"At the same time, I felt good in my own body, and I felt like I had done the work on the weekend and my fitness was up to scratch," he said.
"I just kept my preparation as normal for whether I'm playing at Peel or AFL, so I was really excited."
Like his team, Amiss made a scratchy start to Fremantle's first final in seven years when he marked 15m out and directly in front early in the second quarter before hitting the post with his set shot.
Renowned for his accurate kicking and tireless work on his set shot routine, the left-footer put his first effort down to nerves.
He was proud of his ability to respond, converting for his first goal after the half-time siren in a massive team-lifting moment, and again early in the fourth quarter with the goal that levelled scores.
"That was definitely nerves. Big game, first shot at goal, and my first AFL game in a long time," Amiss said of his opening effort.
"But I think I just needed that one, and then the next shot I was able to go through my routine again and put it through."
Teammate Sam Switkowski was glowing in his praise of Amiss on Monday, declaring he had rarely seen a young player stay so calm and composed early in their career.
Longmuir said the Busselton product's ability to recover and kick two important goals proved his goalkicking method and routine was right.
"I don't know whether I've seen a young player come in and work so meticulously on their goalkicking," the coach said.
"He never wastes a shot at training, has a really strong routine, and he's got a lot of belief in his goalkicking, so he wouldn't have been dented by the first shot at all.
"It wasn't that big a decision (to play him) to be honest.
"We thought we needed another marking target, we thought we needed a taller forward who leads to the footy really well against the Bulldogs, and he was the one … he was really good."
